The Stories of Women in Prison for Drug Related Crimes

This series of short films about women imprisoned for drug offenses in Mexico documents the human cost of current drug policies and the specific conditions by which these laws disproportionately impact women and their families. Most of these women live in poverty, have few economic opportunities, low levels of education, and are single mothers. They are primarily convicted for possessing, selling or transporting small amounts of drugs. They do not occupy positions of power within the drug trade and have not committed violent crimes, yet across the region the number of women incarcerated for drug offenses is increasing at an alarming rate.

One of the videos tells the story of “Gaby,” a single indigenous mother from Oaxaca, who enters the marijuana market to support her family and to pay the medical costs of her son, who has cerebral palsy. She received a 10-year sentence for the crime of transporting marijuana.

Another of the videos details the story of “Orfa”, a Guatemalan woman who is imprisoned for transporting cocaine into Mexico. Orfa’s profile is common for foreign women imprisoned for drug trafficking.